Both enterprises and individuals are increasingly interested in using handheld devices. Most modern handheld devices are equipped with multiple sensors (e.g., microphone, wireless transmitter, global positioning system (GPS) engine, camera, stylus, etc.). However, there are no applications available that make full use of these multiple sensors. In other words, multi-sensory technologies that make handheld devices a multi-modal multi-lingual mobile assistant are not available.
Today, cellular telephones running on state-of-the-art operating systems have increased computing power in hardware and increased features in software in relation to earlier technologies. For instance, cellular telephones are often equipped with built-in digital image capture devices (e.g., cameras) and microphones together with computing functionalities of personal digital assistants (PDAs). Since these devices combine the functionality of cellular phones with the functionality of PDAs, they are commonly referred to as “smart-phones.”
The hardware and software features available in these smart-phones and similar technologically capable devices provide developers the capability and flexibility to build applications through a versatile platform. The increasing market penetration of these portable devices (e.g., PDAs) inspires programmers to build applications, Internet browsers, etc. for these smart-phones.
The Internet continues to make available ever-increasing amounts of information which can be stored in databases and accessed therefrom. Additionally, with the proliferation of portable terminals (e.g., notebook computers, cellular telephones, PDAs, smart-phones and other similar communication devices), users are becoming more mobile, and hence, trackable and predictable. For example, many devices are being designed with a geographic location tracking technology such as GPS for reasons of safety, finding travel destinations, etc. Thus, it now becomes possible to determine the location of the user. This location together with other accessible data can be valuable to augmenting services within a portable device.